The One Where Rachel Smokes
"The One Where Rachel Smokes" is the eighteenth episode of the fifth season of Friends, which aired on April 8, 1999. Rachel takes up smoking at her new job as a way of making inroads with the boss. Joey joins Ross's son Ben on an audition for a soup commercial. Plot smokes.]] Phoebe and Monica organize a surprise party for Rachel one month ahead of her birthday, but organizing freak Monica takes responsibility over everything, leaving nothing for Phoebe, who points this out to her. To try and spare something, Monica gives Phoebe duties on cups and ice, and Phoebe vows to "make her rue the day she put Phoebe in charge of cups and ice." Ross' son Ben has been offered the chance to become a star in a soup commercial, which an envious Joey finds hard to accept. When he learns that the soup commercial also calls for the role of a dad, he volunteers himself for the audition. Both he and Ben are chosen for the callback, but the lack of similarity in looks makes the director cast them opposite to each other, so only one of them can be chosen for the commercial. As things end up, Joey has to audition with a famous commercial child actor. He talks to Ross about the callback, but only to make Ben back out of the whole thing, which Ross finds crazy as it was Ben's audition and Joey merely invited himself along. The two end up fighting about it, but there's no time to hold grudges as the callback is held. Joey screws up the two-word line he has, which loses him the part. is put in charge of cups and ice.]] On the first day at her work, Rachel tries to get along with her new colleague and boss Nancy and Kim. The latter two are smokers, and go out on a cigarette break every morning, which Rachel can't join as she doesn't smoke. However, to try and bond with them, she joins them and tries to smoke a cigarette with them. But Rachel's not very enthusiastic to fall into the bad habit, which is bad for her as Kim and Nancy bond during cigarette breaks and Nancy advises Kim on the executive decision. Rachel fears for her position, as Kim and Nancy have more time to spend together, and tries to talk Kim and Nancy into quitting, but fails when she catches them smoking behind her back. Kim warns Rachel that she'll fire her if she catches her with a cigarette, and Rachel has no choice but to do so - just as Kim invites Nancy on a trip to Paris with her. Determined to make a good impression with cups and ice, Phoebe rises occasion spectacularly, and practically decorates the apartment with nothing but cups. As for the ice, she brings a whole variety for everyone to enjoy: crushed, cubed and dry ice, together with snow cones. Monica is almost inexistent in the party, and she realizes that she has underestimated Phoebe. Rachel arrives home, and is very surprised to find the party, especially since Chandler's birthday is before hers. Everyone tries to pass the party off as a surprise for Chandler which, unsurprisingly, doesn't work. Meanwhile, Ross tries to talk to Joey, who is still sad at losing the part at the callback. He ends up telling Joey that the real reason he messed up the part is because, deep down, Joey wanted Ben to get it, which Joey finds as a good excuse. When he asks Ross how Ben did, Ross tells him that Ben didn't get the part, and Joey replies: "Eh, what are you gonna do?", showing how little he cares about Ben's acting career. Cast and Crew Main Cast Jennifer Aniston - Rachel Green Courteney Cox - Monica Geller Lisa Kudrow - Phoebe Buffay Matt LeBlanc - Joey Tribbiani Matthew Perry - Chandler Bing David Schwimmer - Ross Geller Supporting Cast Allen Twins - Ben Geller Joanna Gleason - Kim Judy Kain - The Casting Director Jane Sibbett - Carol Willick Megan Ward - Nancy Matt Weinberg - Raymond Jim Wise - Kyle James Michael Tyler - Gunther Crew Directed By: Todd Holand Written By: Michael Curtis Trivia General *This is the final appearance of Charlie and Jack Allen as Ben Geller. Although Ben appeared in 12 episodes of Friends, Charlie and Jack only played him in 5 episodes. *Ironically, when this was filmed Jennifer Aniston was a smoker who wanted to quit (She quit in 2011). *When the casting director asks most of the actors to leave, you can see Harry Van Gorkum playing one of the fathers taking his son out of the room. Harry Van Gorkum plays Don, Monica's "soulmate" in "The One Where Joey Tells Rachel". *On the Season 5 DVD, there are three extra scenes at the audition, one with Carol, an extra scene at the party where Chandler is trying to sneak a cigarette, and at Rachel's work when Kim and nancy sneak off to smoke. *During the party, the song, "Never There" by the band, Cake, can be heard in the background. Continuity * Rachel's year of birth is inconsistent. Her 30th birthday in The One Where They All Turn Thirty (2001) implies that Rachel was born in 1971. However, her 29th birthday in The One Where Rachel Smokes (1999) implies that she was born in 1970. Also, Rachel says she is 28 in The One With The Fake Party (1998) implying she was born in 1970. But 15 months earlier in The One Where Rachel Quits (1996) Chandler says Rachel is 28, implying she was born in 1968. Goofs *When Joey is talking to Ross at the party, the flavoring on Joey's snow cone keeps changing between shots. *In this episode Joey says that he had to teach Ross his bummed out bit, but Ross has been doing this bit since "The One With The Thumb". *Rachel says that her dad hates smoking, but in "The One With The Two Parties", we see that her dad is a smoker. He does have tendencies of being a hypocrite, however. *When Joey is watching Ben and he is stacking Legos the colors change between shots *It is weird that Joey couldn't say his line properly when in the waiting room he was saying 'mmm soup'. It maybe because he practiced his lines assumning regular soup, but it turned out to be noodle soup which messed up his mind. Episode Navigation Category:Friends Category:Friends Episodes Category:Season 5 Category:Episodes with Rachel's name in the title